Fremantle Prison

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Fremantle Prison, sometimes referred to as Fremantle Gaol or Fremantle Jail, is a former Australian prison and World Heritage Site in Fremantle, Western Australia. The site includes the prison cellblocks, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, and tunnels. It was initially used for convicts transported from Britain, but was transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use for locally-sentenced prisoners. Royal Commissions were held in 1898 and 1911, and instigated some reform to the prison system, but significant changes did not begin until the 1960s. The government department in charge of the prison underwent several reorganisations in the 1970s and 1980s, but the culture of Fremantle Prison was resistant to change. Growing prisoner discontent culminated in a 1988 riot with guards taken hostage, and a fire that caused $1.8 million worth of damage. The prison closed in 1991, replaced by the new maximum-security Casuarina Prison.

The prison was administered by a comptroller general, sheriff, or director, responsible for the entire convict or prison system in Western Australia, and a superintendent in charge of the prison itself. Prison officers, known as warders in the 19th century, worked under stringent conditions until they achieved representation through the Western Australian Prison Officers' Union. Convicts were initially of good character as potential future colonists, but less desirable convicts were eventually sent. As a locally-run prison, Fremantle's population was generally short-sentenced white prisoners in the 1890s, with very few Aboriginal prisoners. By the late 20th century, most prisoners were serving longer sentences, a higher proportion of them were violent, and Aboriginal people were present in large numbers.

Prison life at Fremantle was extremely regulated. Meals were an important part of the day, eaten in the cells throughout the operational life of the prison. Convict or prisoner labour was used on public infrastructure works until around 1911; subsequently, only work inside the prison was allowed, though there was never enough to fully occupy the inmates. Punishments varied over the years, with flogging and time in irons eventually replaced by lengthening of sentences and deprivation of visitors or entertainment. More than 40 hangings were carried out at Fremantle Prison, which was Western Australia's only lawful place of execution between 1888 and 1984. Prominent escapees included Moondyne Joe, as well as John Boyle O'Reilly and six other Fenians in the 19th century, and Brenden Abbott in 1989. There have been various riots and other disturbances, with major riots causing damage in 1968 and 1988.

Since 1991, Fremantle Prison has been conserved as a recognised heritage site, and various restoration works have been undertaken. New uses have been found for some buildings within the prison, which has also become a significant tourist attraction. The process of obtaining World Heritage listing as part of the Australian Convict Sites submission focused historical interpretation and conservation efforts on the prison's convict era (18501886), at the expense of its more recent history, including Aboriginal prisoners held there.

Architecture

Layout

[[File:Fremantle Prison map.svg|thumb|515px|Fremantle Prison buildings, wall, and tunnels. North is at the left side of this diagram.

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Fremantle Prison was built on a land grant of about from limestone quarried on-site. A boundary wall encloses the prison grounds, with a gatehouse in the centre of the western wall, facing The Terrace. at the centre of the site, North of the main block is New Division, and west of that, in the north-western corner, is the former Women's Prison, The hospital building stands in the north-eastern corner, while the former workshops are located in the south-eastern corner, as well as to the north of the gatehouse. A system of tunnels, constructed to provide fresh water from an aquifer, runs under the eastern edge of the site. Number 10 is a double-storey house, initially built in 1853 for the chaplain, but taken over by the superintendent in 1878 and later used by the prison administration. An adjoining single-storey at number 12, finished in 1854, was the home of the gatekeeper, located on the north side of the gatehouse. Number 16 The Terrace, south of the gatehouse, is a double-storey house that accommodated first the superintendent, and later the resident magistrate. It remained in use as housing for prison officers until the 1970s. Number 18, the southernmost house on The Terrace, and number 8, the northernmost of the initial buildings, both featured two sitting rooms, three bedrooms, and two dressing rooms, as well as a kitchen, water closet and shed, but with mirrored layouts. Number 18 was expanded with additions built in the 1890s.

Gatehouse

The gatehouse and associated entry complex was constructed between 1854 and 1855 using convict labour. It was designed by Royal Engineer and Comptroller General Edmund Henderson, and constructed out of limestone. Iron that had been scavenged from shipwrecks was used to make the gate, while the clock at the top of the structure was imported from England. As the main entrance, the gatehouse has remained a significant feature and landmark; since the closure of the prison, it has housed a café and office areas. Restoration was carried out in 2005, preserving the original stone facade and removing non-original rendering. The main block also houses the gallows, solitary confinement cells, and two chapelsAnglican and Catholic.

Women's Prison

The north-western complex was originally a service area with a cookhouse, bakehouse and laundry, built in the 1850s. A place for women prisoners was needed following the closure of Perth Gaol and the transfer of prisoners to Fremantle. The buildings were converted to a prison, and a wall built around them, creating Western Australia's first separate prison for women. Population and crime growth led to them being extended in the 1890s and 1910s. The construction of Bandyup Women's Prison saw Fremantle's Women's Prison close in 1970, with the space used for education and assessment until the main prison's closure in 1991.

Workshops

The original workshop was a blacksmith's shop, one of the first buildings to be constructed on the prison site. Later known as the East Workshops, other workshops included carpenter's, plumber's and painter's, a printing office, and from the 1850s, a metal shop. The West Workshops were built at the start of the twentieth century, providing more work for prisoners through a paint shop, mat maker, shoe maker, book binder and tailor shop.

In 1993 the four northern workshops were adapted for use as TAFE art workshops. In 1896, a town reservoir was constructed on Swanbourne Street, fed from the prison by a triple-expansion steam-driven pump that could take more than per day from the prison tunnels. Prisoners, relieved of manual pumping, were employed to supply wood and stoke boilers. though the groundwater continued to be used for the prison's gardens. In 1989, diesel leaking from nearby tanks was found to have contaminated the water; however, the pollution was largely cleared by 1996 through bioremediation.

History

19th century

While the Swan River Colony was established as a "free settlement" (unlike the penal colonies on the east coast), by the 1840s demand for cheap labour overcame an early reluctance, and the colony agreed to accept some convicts from Britain. The arrival of the first convict ship Scindian on 2 June 1850 was unexpected, as a sailing ship that had been sent ahead had been blown off-course. The colony's Round House jail was full, so the 75 convicts had to be left on the ship Construction began in 1851, In 1868, penal transportation to Western Australia ceased, and the number of convicts in the colony gradually declined, down to 83 in the mid-1880s. This influx included desperate, dishonest people, from elsewhere in Australia and overseas, and Fremantle Prison was soon overcrowded. Following the urgings of the prison Superintendent George and various official enquiries, new workshops were built to provide increased useful employment for prisoners. Five spaces were designed for tailors, bookbinders, shoemakers, mat makers and painters.

New regulations for prison officers were published in the Government Gazette of Western Australia in 1902, and a new Prisons Act 1903 was passed. While in theory the passing of the act should have resulted in significant prison reform, this did not eventuate. The legislation left much of the changes to executive regulation, at the discretion of the governor, and was described by the media as a feeble document.

New Division, completed in 1907 and occupied in 1908, resulted from the 1899 commissioners' report recommending a modified version of the separate system. by a warder in a central tower. it was one of more than 50 military prisons across Australia holding a combined total of more than 12,000 enemy aliens and prisoners of war. Fremantle accommodated up to 400 military prisoners and up to 160 civilian prisoners by October 1945. The World War II takeover necessitated the commissioning of Barton's Mill Prison in 1942. and to reduce the overcrowding at Fremantle. restructured, and the position of comptroller general was replaced with director of the department. however, racial stereotypes are present throughout the report, and the testimony of Aboriginal prisoners was considered unreliable. The report also made recommendations regarding various aspects of prison life, including additional, independent, trained welfare officers. on the management of the site.

thumb|The interior of [[YHA Australia Fremantle Prison hostel in 2024]]

Staff and prisoners

Administration

thumb|upright|Comptroller General Edmund Henderson

Western Australia's first comptroller general of convicts, Edmund Henderson, administered the convict establishment for thirteen years. The primary responsibilities of the comptroller general were to "direct convict labour and be responsible for convict discipline". responsible for all of the prisons in the colony. the responsibility of the prison itself lay with the superintendent. The pensioner guards were expected to help deal with any incidents of unrest at the prison.

The transfer of the Convict Establishment to the colonially-run Fremantle Prison saw little change, and no new regulations.

Not much had changed by the 1960s. The day began with a waking bell at 6:45&nbsp;am. After a prisoner count, they moved into the yard until 7:30, when they collected breakfast and headed back to their cells. The 8:00 bell signalled a parade, and then the start of work, which lasted until 11:15. They ate a meal, locked in their cells until 12:20&nbsp;pm, followed by some time in the yards. At 1:00 there was another parade, and another session of work which lasted to 4:15. Another meal was collected, and prisoners were locked away in their cells overnight. The lights stayed on until 9:30&nbsp;pm. On the weekends the routine featured no work, and included a film played for the prisoners. coffee or cocoa), and either Vegemite, honey, or margarine, depending on the week. Lunch and dinner had more variation. Both meals consisted of a meat dish – corned beef, sausages, or mince pie – as well as mashed potato and cabbage, although there was occasionally a roast dinner. Continued good behaviour could see the convict granted a ticket-of-leave, allowing private employment in a specified district of the colony, and eventually a Conditional Pardon, allowing most freedoms, except for returning to England. A Certificate of Freedom would only be granted at the end of a sentence. Misbehaviour would result in demotion through these levels of work, including returning to convict status within the prison. Re-offenders and captured escapees, after corporal punishment and time in solitary confinement, would be placed on a chain gang undertaking hard labour, typically on roads near Fremantle.

By the 1880s, punishments also included a restricted diet of bread and water (for a short time span), time in irons, and a lengthening of a prisoner's sentence by a visiting magistrate. The gallows room was the only lawful place of execution in Western Australia between 1888 and 1984. and one woman were hanged in this period. Martha Rendell was the only woman to be hanged at the prison, in 1909. The last person to be hanged was serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, executed in 1964. Following a medical examination, the deceased was removed for burial.

Moondyne Joe

thumb|left|upright|alt=Cell with walls and floor covered in jarrah, held with an abundance of nails|Moondyne Joe's "escape-proof" cell

Joseph Bolitho Johns, better known as Moondyne Joe, was Western Australia's best known bushranger. In July 1865, Johns was sentenced to ten years penal servitude for killing a steer. In July 1866 he received a further six months in irons for trying to cut the lock out of his door, but in August Moondyne Joe succeeded in escaping again. However, the rock broken by Moondyne Joe was not removed regularly, and eventually a pile grew up until it obscured the guard's view of him below the waist. Partially hidden behind the pile of rocks, he occasionally swung his sledgehammer at the limestone wall of the prison. On 7 March 1867, Moondyne Joe escaped through a hole he had made in the prison wall. and settled in Boston. Later that year, pardons were issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians, after which only eight militant Fenians remained in Western Australia's penal system.

The Fenians in America bought the whaling ship Catalpa, which on 29 April 1875 sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on a secret rescue mission. Coordinating with local Fenian agents, the escape was arranged for 17 April 1876, when most of the Convict Establishment garrison would be watching the Royal Perth Yacht Club regatta. Catalpa dropped anchor in international waters off Rockingham and dispatched a whaleboat to the shore. At 8.30 am, six Fenians who were working in work parties outside the prison walls absconded, and were met by carriages that raced south to where the boat was waiting.

Abbott avoided capture until 1995, committing various robberies as he moved across Australia. He also escaped from a Queensland prison after two years

Riots

There have been various prisoner riots and other disturbances at Fremantle Prison over the years that it was operational. One of the earliest was in 1854, while major riots which occurred in 1968 and 1988 resulted in damage to the prison.

1988

On 4 January 1988, despite the heat, officers decided prisoners should remain outside in the exercise yards in the afternoon. As division 3 prisoners were let inside at around 4pm, a voice exclaimed "Let's take 'em", hostages, as flames quickly overran the building, spread into the rafters, and caused the roof to collapse. and officers were injured. Five years later, these locations were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 as the Australian Convict Sites.

The process of obtaining World Heritage listing focused historical interpretation and conservation efforts on the prison's convict era. This came at the expense of its more recent history, included use as an internment centre during World War II, and the imprisonment of Aboriginal prisoners. The prioritisation, evident from the first conservation plans from before the prison closed, is reflected in the branding of the tourist experience as "Fremantle Prison – the Convict Establishment", and through restorations that, while necessary to prevent damage and deterioration, strip away the site's recent history.

Restoration

Various parts of Fremantle Prison have had restoration works undertaken since the 1990s; a total of (equivalent to in ) was spent between 1996/97 and 1998/99 on works which included restoring the facade of the Anglican chapel.

In 2005, work was undertaken on the restoration of the prison gatehouse area. Non-original rendering was removed and the original stonework was revealed. (equivalent to in ) project in 2006 and 2007. The gallows room was restored in 2013 to conditions at the time of the last execution, in 1964.

Tourism

Fremantle Prison receives international and domestic tourists, as well as ex-prisoners, former prison officers, and their descendants.

2007,

2008,

2011,

2012,

2013,

2014,

2015,

2016,

2017,

and 2018.

|group = lower-alpha While the tourist experience is based on authenticity and heritage values, some details are concealed or de-emphasised, such as prison tattooing, riots, and graffiti portraying revenge, sexuality, or brutality.

thumb|left|upright|Drawing found in James Walsh's cell

The Fremantle Prison Collection contains around 15,000 items associated with the prison's site, history, or the experiences of its workers and prisoners. It is also involved in preserving oral histories, with interview transcripts stored at Fremantle Prison and recordings archived in the Battye Library Oral History Collection. Recollections have been recorded since 1989, and include the experiences of authorities, staff, volunteer visitors, and prisoners. The Fremantle Prison records and collections, including archaeological, provide a substantial resource for researchers. Many cells and areas of the prison depict prisoners' artwork, This rule was relaxed in special cases – including, from 1976, long-term prisoners within their own cells – but only for work considered art and not graffiti.|group = lower-alpha

A more contemporary prison artist was Dennis (NOZ) Nozworthy, who stated that he found art on death row, in 1982.